SAGINAW, MI — Having turned 16 in May, Avery M. Smith had a vision and a plan for how her life would play out.
An all-A student going into her junior year at Arthur Hill High School this autumn and with a job at Kokomo’ Family Fun Center, Avery studied building construction and wanted to be an architect. Also an athlete, Avery was co-captain of the junior varsity volleyball team for two years and played junior varsity and varsity basketball.
“Volleyball was her life,” said her mother, Domonique Smith-Vann. “She was all geared up to play college volleyball. She had her whole life mapped out. She knew what she wanted to do.”
One night in mid-August, as an evening of bonding with her mother wound down, a traffic crash interrupted Avery’s plans. While those who collided with her fled the scene and remain unknown, Avery is on a ventilator and feeding tube at an Ann Arbor hospital, with her mother, father, and two sisters left to hope and pray she recovers.
“I can talk to her, but not having her talk back to me, that’s a real struggle,” her mother said. “She’s definitely been by sidekick.”
The crash occurred near the intersection of Janes Avenue and South 21st Street about 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 12. Having worked a shift at Kokomo’s earlier that day, Avery went with her mother to Friday Night Live in downtown Saginaw’s Morley Plaza. On their way home, Avery asked her mom to take her to McDonald’s.
After getting a snack, Smith-Vann drove her 2021 Hyundai Sonata east on Janes Avenue toward South Outer Drive, taking the long way home, she said. Avery was in the front passenger seat.
“We drove around, laughed and talked,” Smith-Vann recalled. “What if I just would have gone straight home? I could have avoided this.”
Smith-Vann said she was talking to her daughter when she looked past her and saw quickly approaching headlights.
“That’s all I remember. That’s the last thing I remember,” she said.
A truck, possibly a GMC or Chevrolet Silverado, crashed into the Sonata’s passenger side.
“I was knocked out,” Smith-Vann said. “When I came to, I remember seeing her and seeing all the blood. Part of the door frame was resting on my face. She was squashed in between the center console and the door. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, what just happened? My baby…’ She wasn’t moving or anything.”
Bystanders from nearby houses rushed to the scene and began helping the mother and daughter. One good Samaritan said she thought Avery was dead, prompting her mother to start screaming.
“It didn’t feel real. It all felt surreal,” Smith-Vann said.
Emergency responders had to extract Smith-Vann and Avery. Meanwhile, those who had been in the striking truck fled the scene before police arrived.
Avery was airlifted to University of Michigan Hospital due to the severity of her injuries, immediately undergoing a 12-hour surgery. According to her mother, Avery suffered tears to her aorta and diaphragm, holes in her heart, pancreas, bladder, and liver, a collapsed lung, a crushed pelvis, a break to her right tibia, and internal bleeding.
As of Aug. 23, Avery is on a ventilator, unable to breathe on her own, and has a feeding tube running directly to her intestines, her mother said.
“All the surgeries have been successful, but she’s in a lot of pain,” Smith-Vann said. “They’re keeping her pretty much sedated right now. As it looks right now, she’s going to be in this state for at least three months.”
Smith-Vann suffered a concussion, whiplash, and several bruises and cuts in the crash. She still sporadically finds pieces of glass in her skin and scalp, she said.
“Physically, I’m doing better but mentally, it’s definitely a challenge,” she said.
Avery has two sisters, one 20 and the other 2. Since the crash, her family has received a swell of support from the community.
“Avery is an all-around loving person, and the outpouring we have experienced has just been tremendous,” Smith-Vann said. “I never would have thought she would have touched this many lives. You never really think of how your life or your personality affects other people until something like this happens.”
Arshen Baldwin, Avery’s volleyball coach, described her as an exceptionally hard worker with an outgoing spirit.
“I made her a captain because she’s naturally a leader,” Baldwin said. “She led by example. She was always showing what it was to do well at the sport and always gave her best in everything she did. She just had an infectious smile and an overall great attitude.”
It was something of a foregone conclusion Avery would be on the varsity volleyball team this upcoming year. Her absence from team conditioning, and the circumstances behind it, has hit her teammates hard, Baldwin said.
“Our hearts just ache not having her with us,” she said, adding mental health professionals and counselors came in to visit with the other teens. “It was kind of rough for our girls.”
In addition to dealing with her middle daughter’s medical issues, Smith-Vann said she’s frustrated that those who put her daughter in such a position have not been arrested.
Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Matthew Gerow said a detective is investigating the matter and confirmed the suspected driver fled before officers’ arrival on the scene. He also confirmed Smith-Vann had the right of way and the striking truck apparently ran a stop sign.
“We have good information to go off of to start our investigation,” Gerow said. “We’re gonna make it right. We’re gonna do right for both of them. We’re taking it very seriously.”
Under Michigan law, leaving the scene of a crash wherein severe bodily injury occurs is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
While Smith-Vann of course wants those who marred her daughter brought to justice, her focus is on Avery’s recovery.
“I just pray that she pulls through and she comes out of this victoriously,” she said.
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